The Darkness Saga
by ImJessieTR
Summary: Please read The Comeback King Saga and When the Diamond Ring Turns Brass, as this story follows, at the very least, those in my Hensonverse. Per Once Upon a Time's plot, this follows the end of season 4. I recommend that show, it's cool. This saga may branch out to more "realms" as time passes, but the first arc will focus mostly on Labryinth and Once Upon a Time.
1. Chapter 1

**The Darkness Saga**

 **Act One: Liquid Darkness**

Chapter 1: The Queen of Trash

 _Author's Note: Please read The Comeback King Saga and then When the Diamond Ring Turns Brass first, as this saga is a sequel to this universe. Those aren't the only stories in my "Henson-verse", but it's important for how the Labyrinth characters got to this point. I own no characters (so far) in this story. The Queen of Trash is from Sesame Workshop's_ _Sesame Street_ _and the residents of Storybrook are from Disney's_ _Once Upon a Time_ _._

Blackness so filled the night sky, one couldn't even see the moon. Emma Swan, the Savior, a woman born of the Enchanted Forest and spirited away to our world, clutched at the dagger as fluid tendrils of darkness swirled around Regina, the former Evil Queen who had wanted Snow White dead. Tears welled up in her eyes. "I love you," she sobbed to her rugged pirate lover, Killian, or Captain Hook, as he was known in sootier circles.

The darkness charged towards her as she tried stabbing the massive cloud of tendrils. Light shone from the dagger and the tendrils wrapped around her body, cloaking her blonde hair, her red jacket, and her black pants.

David and Mary Margaret, or, as they used to be known, Prince Charming and Snow White, gaped in horror as their daughter, the Savior, a person whose light was the result of magically _banishing_ darkness from her heart, was swept up into the sky in a tornado of liquid obscurity, the dagger itself, now etched with Emma's name, clanging unceremoniously to the street below.

The next morning, only the baby's cries could awaken David and Mary Margaret, as their hearts just weren't into being conscious yet. David turned towards the alarm clock: 04:08. He sighed and heard the garbage truck coming down the street. Elbowing his wife, he kissed her and told her to check on Little Neal while he took out the garbage.

"You didn't do that last night?" Mary muttered in her half-awakened state.

"Things happened," he replied quickly, jumping out of bed.

As he dragged the first bag out, he saw the garbage truck pause in front of their apartment building. "Hey, wait up!" he shouted.

A dark-skinned woman hurled a large black plastic garbage bag into the back of the truck and glanced at him. "You shoulda done that last night."

David panted and dropped the bag at her feet. "I got three more. _Please_ wait. My wife and I just lost our daughter and -."

The woman laughed. "Don't worry. I've got time. Let me help you get them." As she helped load the bags, she exhaled. "I'm sorry to hear about the Savior." She backed David over to the sidewalk and snapped her fingers.

The garbage truck disappeared.

She smirked as David stared at the empty spot on the street. "You guys don't have a lot of room for landfills, so I just sorta get rid of it my way," she noted, giggling.

"You're magic?"

She nodded. "I need to talk to you and your wife. We have a problem."

David nodded and stared at the ground. "I know. Emma's lost somewhere as the new Dark One." He grit his teeth. "If I get my hands on Rumple -."

She took his arm gently. "He's not a problem right now. Emma _is_. Darkness is spreading throughout the realms. She's out there. You have to get her back in Storybrook."

Inside the apartment, Mary Margaret, her pixie black hair scruffed up and her eyes baggy, carried Little Neal in her arms as she fed him. When the door opened, she half-expected Emma to enter. A part of her was disappointed to see that it was her husband.

"Snow," David started (as everyone in Storybrooke tended to alternate randomly between their modern names and their fairy tale personas), "we have to talk." He moved so the garbage woman could enter. "This is Eshe. She said she could help us find Emma."

Mary nearly dropped the baby. She put him in a bassinet and hugged the woman, despite smelling trash seeping through the gray jumpsuit. "How can you help us?" she begged, pulling away and wiping tears from her eyes. "What do we have to do?" She paused. "We'll do _anything_."

Eshe sighed and pulled out a book from her back pocket.

 _Heroes and Villains._

David grabbed it from her hands. " _Where did you get that book?_ " he barked. " _That book doesn't exist!_ "

Eshe shrugged, nonplussed from his ranting. "It happened. What happens, happens, okay?"

"That's not true," Mary Margaret retorted in shock. "The sorcerer's apprentice assured us everything the Author did was negated."

Shaking her head, Eshe replied, "In my kingdom, what is thrown away is able to return."

" _Your_ kingdom?"

Nodding, she continued, "I am Eshe, Queen of the Trash Kingdom."

"You've _got_ to be joking," Mary Margaret replied.

"My kingdom is _filled_ with stories, objects, paths … anything you can think of that you can lose, it's usually in my kingdom." She sat down on a barstool near the kitchen. "I've been through a lot of trouble this century, hunting down crowns, kingdoms, lovers …."

"You mean you can find people?" David asked in a calmer and more thoughtful tone.

Eshe nodded. "Even the dead, though it's tricky and usually requires you setting up a loophole previously to dying."

"That's ridiculous."

"Tell me," the Queen of Trash asked David, "how your former Dark One was restored."

"Neal, our daughter's boyfriend," Mary Margaret answered pensively, "sacrificed himself to restore his father, Rumpelstiltskin."

The Queen nodded and shrugged. "If it's ridiculous, it shouldn't have happened. And yet, I hear what's left of him is lying on a pawn store floor, very much alive."

"What does all this have to do with finding Emma?"

"At least she can't leave Storybrooke, David," Mary Margaret told him. "Magic doesn't exist outside of town."

Eshe laughed and nearly fell off the stool. "Whoever told you _that_?"

David stared at her like she had just grown wings. "Rumple and Regina have both been outside the town borders and couldn't use their magic."

Eshe shrugged. "So, they couldn't use magic." Chuckling, she continued, "It doesn't mean that _no one_ can."

"But the Chernabog couldn't exist outside either …"

Eshe stood and shook her head. "Look, I'm telling you that on this world, everyone is magic. Every _thing_ is magic. Most people aren't aware of this and live lives devoid of ever feeling a connection to a more powerful existence. That must be why you've been told there's no such thing as magic … but if there were no magic in this world, your little town couldn't _exist_ here."

Mary Margaret steadied herself on the barstool, her mind reeling. "You're saying Emma could be anywhere?"

Eshe nodded. "Exactly. I have a daughter who freaked out last night and contacted me about coming here to find you two."

David choked down a sob. "So, uh, what do we have to do?"

Eshe pointed towards the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Darkness Saga**

 **Act One: Liquid Darkness**

Chapter 2: Hedges

The scrawny, elderly man shook as he picked up the hedge clippers. Snip, snip. Snip, snip. The cuts were uneven. A small wooshing sound was heard from behind him.

"I will look after my _own_ ," noted a female voice tersely.

The old man glanced back, his long white beard infested with strangling pixies. He stood there, staring at the regal woman, who wore black trimmed with red, her dark brown hair topped with a tiara bedecked with ruby hearts. He turned back to the hedges and started snipping again, making it look even worse.

The woman twirled him around and lifted him up in the air a few inches off the ground without touching him. She scowled and jabbed her right fist through his chest. Feeling a wave of dizziness sweep over her, she dropped him and stumbled backwards.

"You're not the only one seeking my heart," the old gardener told her with a cackling, scratchy voice.

"Jonathan," she gasped as her head started to clear. "How _dare_ you enter my kingdom?"

The elderly man straightened out and waved his hand in front of his face, the beard disappearing before her eyes. "Isn't that what you _wanted_ , Cora?" he asked her. "Have you not been given _everything_ for which you've ever asked? Magic, power, royal title, children …"

" _Never_ mention my children again!" she hissed.

"Not still sore about Zelena? She is so powerful … can't you be proud of her?"

Cora stared at Jonathan in shock. "She's … alive?"

Jonathan frowned, his voice deepening. "You haven't even bothered to _watch_ her?" He lunged and grasped her throat. "Are children so meaningless to you? Of what use is this 'Wonderland' without anyone with whom to share it?"

"Y-you … l-left … m-m-me," she gurgled, unable to free herself, taken by surprise that the lying scoundrel who took advantage of her had such unimaginable strength. "Y-you c-c-could have," she coughed, "s-shared it with … m-m-me."

He let her drop to the ground, a glint in his eye. "I have kingdoms enough, Cora. Before you were even a speck in destiny's eyes, before your great-great-great-grandparents were, I ruled entire galaxies. You weren't the first of my conquests and you aren't the last, but …", he noted, trailing off.

He sighed and sat down beside her, his hair turning from short dark brown to a light straw brown that stretched in feathered fashion to his shoulders.

Cora thought his hair looked like an upside-down scrub brush with side bristles far too long.

His eyes sharpened, his brows angled more sharply, and his eyeliner stretched out and slightly upwards almost an inch long. He looked almost bird-like now, like a barnyard owl spying for rats from atop a rafter.

"I offered my kingdom to someone," he told her sadly. "I don't understand. She defied me. She looked at me as though I were a monster. I offered her _everything_ you yourself would have killed to have … and she declined."

"Have you been with Regina?" Cora asked curtly. "Such trifles seem to flow from her mouth effortlessly." She paused and spat. "Stupid girl."

"Her name is Sarah," he offered. "So talented, so full of potential …"

"Do you want her heart?" Cora asked. "Such things come with a price … and for what you've done to me … you'll find it rather steep indeed."

"Such things must wait, I fear," he replied, looking at her finally. "The child she offered to me has power far greater than even hers, perhaps."

"Are you really Jonathan? Or are you merely Rumple, toying with me?"

The man smiled and stood, offering her his hand to help her up. "I am Jareth, King of Goblins, former King of the Universe." He paused. "Cora – go to Regina. Apologize for your uncouth behavior."

"Hiding your heart will not stop me from killing you," Cora threatened.

He started to fade in a cloud of brown and white feathers. In Cora's mind, she heard his suave voice tell her, " _Children are the future … the Pathmakers … the Authors of Destiny … watch over them well, Cora._ "

Sometime later, having traveled with a droll rabbit to the Enchanted Forest, Cora walked closer to her daughter, Regina, the "Evil Queen", as the latter sat in her chambers in the darkened castle.

"But you _do_ understand power – and you're about to lose it. Your 'people' want Snow White to be queen, and unless you start building a dynasty, she'll take back the kingdom … and you'll lose it _all_."


	3. Chapter 3

**The Darkness Saga**

 **Act One: Liquid Darkness**

Chapter 3: Awakened Light

"Uhhhnhhh," Rumplestilskin groaned as his eyes fluttered. It felt like he was naked and underneath a mountain.

"Rumple?" quivered Belle as she scooted next to him, trembling and sobbing with happiness. His heart had nearly turned into what looked like charcoal. He had nearly died.

Despite everything the Dark One had put her through, despite her knowledge that he had been abusive and selfish … something in her simply couldn't stop loving him. Was she truly desperate for love, as some had offered in disgust? Or was it "Lacey", her late-blooming Storybrooke persona, a club-hopping sociopath, who was still inside her, dreaming of bonding with the Dark One?

Now that the darkness was removed … would he love her in return … _finally_ … or would she … would she _reject_ the saint she assumed he became?

He finally opened his eyes, wildly glancing for Belle, and mumbled something indecipherable.

"You're under a protection spell," she told him, laughing and crying and trying to smooth his hair with her trembling fingers. "The sorcerer's apprentice did it before succumbing to darkness."

A light shone around Rumple as he frowned in concentration, as if a force field had suddenly become visible. It shattered and he clumsily tried to grab her shoulders and sit up. "He … he …"

"It left him," she offered. "Emma and the others went to search for it."

He grabbed her and pulled her toward him, kissing her. Her accent was enchanting, though most would say it was Rumple's Scottish accent that swooned people. It was strange, he had thought so many years ago, that she and her father had accents, in the current world resembling Australian, much different from those in the surrounding territories. In fact, it was an accent they shared with Zelena, who had been brought up in Oz. Did that mean…?

She returned his kiss, saturating his face with her tears.

"You're awake?"

They turned to see Mary Margaret and David standing in the doorway to the pawn shop. Behind them was a smirking dark-skinned woman.

For a moment, Rumple thought Ursula had returned. The old Rumple would've wanted to kill her for her betrayal, but now … he just felt glad she had returned home with her father.

Rumple's voice was hoarse. "W-where is … the apprentice?"

Snow nodded toward a chaise. The old man with the scraggly beard and the brown tattered suit twitched as he lay asleep. "The darkness tried to possess him, but entered Emma instead," she said sadly.

Belle shot up, nearly dropping Rumple back to the floor. "What?"

Rumple wavered before speaking, wobbling back and forth. "B-bad …."

"Yeah," David noted dryly.

"How are you, Rumple?" Eshe asked, moving past the couple and walking towards the former Dark One. "Can you walk?"

"Not particularly well, no," he replied, exhausted. He rubbed his chest in confusion.

"The darkness -"

"—went into Emma," he finished testily. "I'm tired, not deaf." He glanced at Eshe. "What are you doing here?"

"You two know each other?" Belle asked timidly.

Rumple smirked. "She gets around."

Eshe growled at him. "No more than _you_. We have to find the Goblin King. He can confine the darkness rampaging throughout the worlds."

David coughed. "The apprentice said only Merlin can stop the darkness."

Eshe rolled her eyes. "Your world isn't the only one with darkness, you know. Ask your little fairy nun. The Dark One's darkness isn't even _from_ the Enchanted Forest. The seeds of it were created millions of years ago, when a planet's heart, a giant crystal, split, making a schism between light and darkness. Ever since, any world with life on it depends on the light of crystals and fears the darkness threatening them."

Belle helped steady Rumple. "Where did you get this information?"

Eshe shook her head. "You people wouldn't know about it. The closest thing to your knowledge is the diamonds the dwarves mine … on this world, they aren't just for making fairy dust … they are part of a collective consciousness. If they die, the entire planet dies." She sat down on the ground, looking defeated. "And …."

"And?" Rumple asked.

She whispered softly, "Maldis will be set free."

"Who?" Belle asked.

Eshe sighed. "Maldis is part of the King of the Universe. Many millennia ago, beings from outer space came to this world, looking for breeding stock to create beings who could keep peace throughout the universe. They engineered what they wanted, the most powerful of which was the King of the Universe. Eventually, however, the King was attracting so much drama that he felt he could never be treated as a person, so he split himself into three pieces: Hubris, Horror, and Humility. Jareth, the Goblin King, is Hubris. He feeds off of dreams and arrogance. Horror naturally feeds off of fear, and that is Maldis, who I think has been locked away deep underground."

"And humility?" asked Rumple.

"I suspect someone, but I'm not sure. All I know is that if they all recombine, the King of the Universe is restored, but will be whichever personality was most dominant at the time of the restoration." She looked around at them. "Naturally, we would prefer to avoid Maldis, the Horror, absorbing the darkness in Emma and becoming dominant." Standing, she nodded towards Rumple. "I need access to your vault."

"With the most dangerous items I've ever obtained? I hardly think that's appropriate, dearie."

She shook her head. "No, the _Dark One_ obtained those things because he feared losing his dark powers. _You_ have a heart free from darkness now."

"And what exactly did you hope to find?" he asked her incredulously. "The silver crystal?"

Eshe gawked at him blankly. "The what?"

Rumple coughed and looked away. "I … found a world with a young queen who used a crystal bound to her heart to vanquish darkness. It annoyed me, so I took it from her."

Eshe shook her head. "No," she answered cautiously. "I don't think it's the same one. To protect the Underground, my realm and that of Jareth's, I need a crystal harboring the only person I can think of who can find the Goblin King."

Snow panicked. "I thought you could find people?"

Eshe's lips quivered. "I can't find him. My daughter Majorie can't find him. Nobody knows where he is." She glanced tearfully at Snow White. "I've _never_ lost sight of him, for all the millennia I've known him. I … I _love_ him. I just can't _find_ him."

 **Author's Note: I own not a single character. Eshe is just the name I gave the Queen of Trash, owned by Sesame Workshop. Maldis is a villain from Farscape, which is owned by the Jim Henson Company. Everyone else is from Storybrooke and is owned by Disney.**


End file.
